Sunday, May 17, 2020

UK grocery market - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1839 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? ‘‘Co-Operative Foods Market Segmentation and Brand Positioning Grocery Market Overview Market Structure The Co-Operative Group The Co-operative Foods Segmentation Market Segmentation Consumer Market Segmentation Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "UK grocery market" essay for you Create order Target Marketing Co-Ops Target Market Brand Positioning Marketing Mix (4Ps) Co-Ops Brand Positioning Co-Ops Brand Strategy 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 9 10 Executive Summary The Co-Operative group is in UK market for over 150 years and operates across the food, travel, funeral, pharmacy and banking and insurance sectors. It has 4.5 million members and around 5,300 retail outlets. This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the strategy adopted by Co-Op in order to target the consumers and market. It also explores the brand positioning of Co-Op in the grocery retail market in accordance with the consumer demands. In order to do this analysis market segmentation framework is used to separate the target market into groups and by keeping the Co-Ops ethical and fairtrade principles in mind. Brand positioning strategies adopted by the Co-Op food were identified by using the marketing mix framework (4Ps). It is found that Co-Op is having intense pressure from its rival Tesco and Sainsburys who are growing rapidly into the convenience retailing. Although Co-Ops profits are gone up as compared to recent years but there is still room for improvem ent. 1.0 Grocery Market Overview 1.1 Market Structure The UK grocery market is mainly dominated by the big fours who have acquired almost 64% of the market share and of which Tesco is holding the 30% of the market share (Mintel 2009) and it also shows the oligopolistic nature of the market. The grocery market players have divided their customers into two groups: primary shoppers and top-up shoppers , and according to Mintel (2009) the primary shopping is dominated by big fours (Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons) plus Waitrose who are sharing 80% of the market share. The UK is through its worst ever recession which has also affected the grocery retailers and lead to change their strategies. According to Keynote (2009) the ‘hard discount strategy was adopted by most retailers in last two years which was quite successful. Another strategy adopted by the supermarket retailers is to diversify their chains in rural areas in form of convenience stores in order to targets people who have a little access to supermarkets (Mintel 20 09). 1.2 The Co-Operative Group This is UK base co-operative established in 1863 and it is quite diversified organization which mainly operates through its two divisions: trading and financial services. The Co-Operative group is well known for its ethical nature and fair trade principles which reflects within its organisation and differentiates it from its competitors. The Co-operative Group operates across the food, travel, funeral, pharmacy and banking and insurance sectors. It has 4.5 million members and around 5,300 retail outlets 1.3 The Co-Operative Foods The Co-OP food operated in UK through its 2223 food stores which can be found in two formats: convenience stores and small/ medium sized supermarkets (Data monitor 2008) The Co-Op food lies on the 5th place in grocery retail market with 8% shares, thanks to its merger with Somerfield in July 2008 (Mintel 2008). The Co-Op used to be the UKs largest grocery retailer in 1960s and through Somerfield acquisition it will be able gain this position again in neighbourhood market. According to the Telegraph (2009) Peter Marks, chief executive of the Co-op said that: ‘‘the move from the big four UK retailers Tesco, Asda, Sainsburysand Morrisons- to a big five including the Co-op will further boost competition for UK consumers. The Co-Op targets its consumers through its ethical and fare trade approach which is the main emphasis of the Co-Op group as stated above. The key strategy adopted by Co-Op is ‘be local act local but in recent years they are having intense c ompetition from Tesco and Sainsburys who are extended their business in convenience sector and grow rapidly. 2.0 Segmentation According to Jobber (2004) the ways in which individuals and organisations with similar characteristics were put together that have significant implications for the determination of market strategy is called market segmentation. 2.1 Market Segmentation Each buyer can act as a potential separate market due to its unique demands and needs (Kotler 2005). It depends on companies to either follow this approach or not, companies can practise no segmentation (mass marketing), complete segmentation (micromarketing) or something in between (niche marketing) according to Kotler (2005) The Co-Op food is following the micromarketing approach rather mass marketing which has its own drawbacks. Kotler (2005) says that the micromarketing is a way of tailoring products to suit individuals according to their taste and needs. Through these criteria (Co-Op) it is targeting the local market by keeping them in convenient locations and addressing the key ethical issues. Although with the merger with Somerfield in July 2008 (Mintel 2008) they got some medium sized super market in their camp but the main focus is still the ‘c-store format. 2.2 Consumer Market Segmentation As Kotler (2005) stated that there is no single way to segment a consumer market. A marketer has to try different segmentation variable either alone or in combinations. These segments can be divided into four groups: * Behavioural Segmentation * Psychographic Segmentation * Geographic Segmentation * Demographic Segmentation The Co-Op is mainly targeting the behavioural and psychographic consumer segments. Through psychographic approach it is targeting the consumer on the basis of their social class, lifestyle as well as their personality through its ethical and organic food products. On the other hand through behavioural segmentation it is targeting peoples loyalty, their usage rate and attitude towards its product range. 3.0 Target Marketing Choosing a specific segment to serve in a market is called target marketing (Jobber 2004), also firms need to segment the market and target that segment in order to work effectively. 3.1 Co-Ops Target Market The segmentation strategy is been adopted by the Co-Op Food in order to remain competitive in the market. The Co-Ops target market is given below: * Neighbourhood market * Ethical market * Fair trade market * Top-up shoppers These above mentioned areas are the key segments targeted by the Co-Op, as it mainly operates in c-store format and it emphasis on providing fresh food products by targeting the local market and by keeping its ethical dilemma and fairtrade principles in mind. There is another important segment it targets is top-up shopping market, through this area Co-Op gets the opportunity to gain customer and introduce them to their ethical principles. 4.0 Brand Positioning 4.1 Marketing Mix (4Ps) The marketing mix model which is also known as 4Ps is used as a tool by marketer in order to implement the market strategy. The 4Ps are: * Product * Price * Place * Promotion Product: Co-Ops product offering is pretty simple, it has fairtrade products, organic products and also simply range which targets almost all segments of the market on the basis of quality and ethics. According to Mintel (2009) the most of the supermarkets have the good-better-best product range but Co-Op is so far concentrating on the better and best product range. Few of the key brand product offered by Co-Op are mentioned in table2. Price: At Co-Op the price is a big issue at Co-Op which can be expected at a convenience store but its their ethical stance which keeps the prices high too. But in order to remain competitive Co-Op offers range of discounted products and through its loyalty cards it gives an opportunity to get points against spending which can be used for further shopping at store. Place: This is the most important part of the strategy adopted by Co-Op through locating its stores at convenient and accessible places. As reported by Mintel (2009) the first criteria by C-store shopper is the location rather than price. Due to its convenient placement of stores Co-Op provides child friendly and time friendly environment right in the heart of community for its customers who find out of town shopping time consuming and stressful. Promotion: The current slogan by Co-Op is ‘Good with food. Other initiatives include the ‘Green dot scheme, highlighting healthy products. Mainly Co-Op promote its brands through local radio and TV and also by donating in local community projects 4.2 Co-Ops brand positioning According to Mintel (2009) the key rule followed by the Co-Op is getting into the market with bigger brand prospective which weve seen by the acquisition of Somerfield. Through this merger, Co-Ops gone bigger but still theyve opted to remain in the heart of local community by acting as local convenience store. And this message is conveyed by the Somerfields brand message ‘Britains favourite local grocer. 4.3 Co-Ops Brand Strategy The Co-operative Group has adopted strong brand strategy in order to sustain the market shares. As stated by Mintel (2009) its brands lie on the basis of * ethical credentials * environmental issues * local sourcing * Fairtrade. This is underlined by Mintels consumer research, with the Co-ops customers the most likely to buy locally sourced and Fairtrade items. In order to become a responsible retailer Co-Op launched it Ethical Food Policy which resulted because of good response from its 250,000 members. As result Co-op switched all of its premium meat products with RSPCA Freedom-food label (Mintel 2008). Simply value brand is also a replacement for every range and actually it is a Somerfield brand 5.0 Conclusion Although Co-Op operates through its large number of small stores by targeting different location and consumer groups but the average foot fall in some of stores is relatively less (Mintel 2008). As it is facing intense pressure from supermarkets in order keep the prices at a competitive level which is quite difficult as it is operating on such a large scale and operating cost are high. The main problem is that Co-Op is not seen as a shopping destination for majority of consumers and they treat it is as top-up store which nearby and available most of the time. A recent study by Mintel shows that only a significant percentage of people take ethical issues seriously while they shop. For them fairtrade and organic food are just another premium line on the shelf and the price factor restrict them from buying. Mintel (2009) shows an improvement in fairtrade sale but it seems organic products are struggling to keep up sales target during recession. It is clear that Co-Op is facin g intense pressure from its rivals but it has improved a lot through merger and rebranding strategy. Its profits are record high as compared to last 10 years. More and more people are getting awareness of ethical approach adopted by Co-Op and it shows the significance of Co-operative food in the intense market environment. 6.0 References * Data Monitor (2008), Company Profile: Co-operative Group Limited, June 2008, London: Data Monitor. * Jobber, D. (2004), Principles and practice of marketing, 4th Edition, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. * Hall, J. (2008), Co-op swoops on Somerfield in  £1.56bn deal, Telegraph.co.uk, 16th July. * Kotler, C. (2005), Principles of marketing, 5th Edition, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd. * Keynote (2009), Market review Food Catering, Jan 2009, 19th Edition, Keynote Publishing Ltd * Mintel (2008), Mintel market report- Food retailing, November 2008, London: Mintel. * Mintel (2009), Mintel market report- Convenience retailing, September 2009, London: Mintel. * Mintel (2009), Mintel market report- Food retailing, November 2009, London: Mintel. [https://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/display/id=395621/display/id=496165/display/id=496171#atom2] accessed 10/12/09 * Mintel (2009), Mintel market report- Food retailing, November 2 009, London: Mintel. [https://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic//display/id=395621/display/id=496166] accessed 05/12/2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Angel investing - 2482 Words

Angel Investing: Frequently Asked Questions What is an Angel Investor? An angel investor is a high net worth individual who invests his or her own money directly into an early stage company, in return for equity (ownership) in the company. In addition to providing financial capital, angel investors mentor and coach their portfolio companies, and help fill in functional or skill gaps in the company. They introduce the companies to other investors, and to colleagues who may be able to increase the company’s value. Most angel investors are entrepreneurs who have exited one or more businesses. They often invest in companies for reasons that go beyond monetary return. This may include staying in touch with new business developments,†¦show more content†¦In the Philadelphia region, angel groups syndicate deals on a regular basis, sharing due diligence as well as terms. What Makes a Company a Good Candidate for Angel Investment? 1. The company has a must-have product or service with a unique competitive advantage. The company’s product must identify a significant need among a large and clearlydefined target market. Investors use the term â€Å"pain point† to describe the problem that the product will solve – and the company needs to relieve the customer’s â€Å"pain† in a unique and compelling way. It needs to be a â€Å"must-have† rather than a â€Å"nice-to-have† product for its target market. Robin Hood Ventures Angel Investing FAQs 2 12/3/2010 Angel Investing: Frequently Asked Questions 2. The company has a working prototype of its product or service, and at least one paying client. Essentially, the product needs to be ready to go. If the product is just an idea, it is too soon for angel investors to get involved. Likewise, if the company is already a successful business looking to expand its market, it may be ready for the larger resources that venture capitalists can provide. 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Physical Therapy Guillain-Barré syndrome

Questions: You are seeing a patient who is 3 weeks post onset of Guillain-Barre syndrome in the rehabilitation facility. Your patient's lower extremity muscle strength grades are as follows: hip flexion 3+/5 hip extension 2/5 hip abduction 2-/5 knee extension 2-/5 knee flexion 2-/5 ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion 1/5 Answer following questions: 1. List 2 goals for this patient. Select goals that have not been cited by other students. Include Essential components of a well written goal found in Shumway-Cook and Woollacott Figure 6.2. 2. Formulate 2 treatment interventions (one for each goal) to achieve these goals. 3. Name two points you would educate this patient on for maximizing function and prevention/delay of future exacerbation. Select points that have not been cited by other students. 4. Would you work on standing this patient? Why or why not? Answers: Introduction Guillain-Barr syndrome or GBS is described as a group of clinical symptoms which manifests as acute inflammatory poly radiculoneuropathy. GBS results in diminished reflex and weakness. Symptoms and Signs A typical patient with GBS, suffers from relatively gentle gastrointestinal or respiratory illness. The patients have complaints of and muscle weakness in the lower extremities of the body and finger dysesthesias. The weakness progresses over hours to days to affecting the muscles of respiration, truncal muscles, arms, and cranial nerves. GBS is an immune mediated disease and post infectious. Humoral and cellular immune mechanisms most probably play an important role in the development of GBS. In the weeks preceding the onset of GBS, patients report an infectious illness. Most of the infectious agents of GBS which have identified till now induce the production of antibodies which cross-react with specific glycolipids and gangliosides, like GD1b and GM1. These antibodies are distributed in the peripheral nervous system throughout the myelin. 1. Goals for patient Muscle strength is manually assessed by standard methods A Normal grade is the full existent range of motion against gravity and high manual resistance (Riley, 2016). The patient has lower extremity muscle strength grades are as follows: 1/5: There is flicker in the muscle but there is no movement 2/5: Movement of muscle is possible but there is no movement against the gravity 3/5: Movement of muscle is possible against gravity but there is no resistance offered by the examiner Goal 1 Patient will perform excursion exercises and trunk rotation with hands clasped together in standing 5 to 10 times, 1 to 3 times a day. The patient should lie flat, bend his knees and put feet flatly on the floor. Then he should inhale and exhale, while twisting at the waist. Along with this legs should be lowered slightly to the right side. The knees should be pressed together while doing this. Then patient should inhale while returning legs to the center, keeping the knees pointed at the ceiling. The patient should exhale and lower the legs to the left. The pelvis should not be lifted off the floor. Goal 2 The patient will ambulate within parallel bar using assistance of contact guard while seeing the reflection in a mirror, for 5 minutes, thrice a day. The patient should place the working limb on one side and the stump on the other. After this the patient stares at the mirror which is placed on the side of the good limb and makes movements which are mirror-symmetric. The patient sees the reflected image of the moving hand and thus, it seems as if the phantom limb is moving. Using this false visual feedback the patient can "move" the bad limb this stimulates the patient to unclench the bad limb from painful positions (Chan et al., 2007). 2. Treatment interventions For the first goal, patients need to be monitored for hemodynamic instability as well as cardiac arrhythmias, during the rehabilitation program. The intensity of the suggested exercise program should also be monitored because overworking the muscles may sometimes lead to increased weakness of the patient (Andary, 2016). For the second goal mentioned here, intravenous immunoglobulin should be administered as treatment intervention. During administering intravenous immunoglobulin, healthy immunoglobulin is extracted from the donor blood and given to the patient through intravenous injections. The healthy antibodies block the harmful antibodies thus destroying such harmful foreign bodies which attack the nerves. Doses of IVIg are given each day for 5 days. (Nhs.uk, 2014) 3. Patient teaching During GBS patients may suffer from bad moods, so they may find it useful to talk with counselors. Patients of GBS and their family members should be taught about the disease in detail (Andar, 2016). It is an event that can have long lasting implications on physical and psychological condition. Family training and education is important to avoid complications later during the rehabilitation stages of the disease. 4. Making the patient stand The patient will not be able to stand in the third week because of muscle weakness and in addition there might be shortness of breath due to weakness of respiratory muscles and proprioception may also be impaired (Andary, 2016). Approximately eighty percent of the patients suffering from GBS can walk independently from the 6th month and almost sixty percent of patients fully recover their motor strength in one year. In almost five to ten percent of patients recovery becomes a prolonged process, requiring many months of dependency on the ventilator. References Andary, M. (2016). Retrieved 15 January 2016, from Calefato, J. (2012). [online] Available at: https://www.acpin.net/Resources/Synapse_Autumn_2012.pdf [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016]. Nhs.uk,. (2014).Guillain-Barr syndrome - Treatment - NHS Choices. Retrieved 15 January 2016, from https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Guillain-Barre-syndrome/Pages/Treatment.aspx Riley, M. (2015).Dune.une.edu. Retrieved 15 January 2016, from https://dune.une.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031context=pt_studcrpaper Chan, B., Witt, R., Charrow, A., Magee, A., Howard, R., Pasquina, P. et al. (2007). Mirror Therapy for Phantom Limb Pain.New England Journal Of Medicine,357(21), 2206-2207. https://dx.doi.org/10.1056/nejmc071927